Cal Cunningham

In 2002, Cunningham was commissioned in the Army Reserve, Judge Advocate General's Corps. He is a graduate of the Officer Basic Course, Airborne School, and the Judge Advocate Officer Advanced Course.[7]

From 2007 to 2008, Cunningham was mobilized as the senior trial counsel for the Multi-National Corps in Iraq.[8] He was lead counsel in the first court-martial since 1968 of a contractor under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.[9][10] In 2011, Cunningham was assigned to work with a special operations task force in Afghanistan.[11]

Cunningham as a State Senator

In November 2000, Cunningham was elected to represent the 23rd Senate district of the North Carolina General Assembly, which included parts of Davidson, Rowan, and Iredell Counties.[12] At the time of his election, he was North Carolina’s youngest legislator.[13] After his election, a defeated opponent challenged Cunningham’s eligibility on the basis that he had moved back to the district a few days too late to meet the requirement of having lived there for a full year, but the courts rejected the challenge.[14] Cunningham declined to run for reelection after his district’s territory was split between three Republican-leaning districts.[8]

Cunningham worked at the Wallace & Graham law firm from 2003 until 2004, when he joined Kilpatrick Townsend.[8][6]

Since 2003, Cunningham has served as an appointee of the Governor on the Board of Trustees of Davidson County Community College.[15] He also served as an appointee of the Governor on the North Carolina Banking Commission.[16] He is a former vice chair of the Governor's Crime Commission.[17][18]

In 2013, Cunningham joined the environmental services company WasteZero as vice president, government affairs, and general counsel. WasteZero helps support pay-as-you-throw waste reduction systems which municipalities in North Carolina and elsewhere have debated implementing.[19][20] Cunningham left WasteZero in March 2020, shortly after winning the Democratic nomination, but continues to work for the company as an independent contractor.[21][22]

In 2010, Cunningham ran for the U.S. Senate seat held by Richard Burr.[23][24][25] Retired NATO Supreme Allied Commander General Wesley Clark endorsed Cunningham, saying that he would be "the first veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to serve in the U.S. Senate", as did the state's largest organization of teachers, the North Carolina Association of Educators.[26][27] He finished second in the primary, but since no candidate received 40% of the vote, he advanced to a runoff with the first-place finisher, North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine Marshall, who ultimately won the nomination.[28]

Cunningham originally declared his candidacy for lieutenant governor of North Carolina,[29][30] but he withdrew in June 2019 to run for the United States Senate seat held by Thom Tillis instead.[31] During the primary, a Republican-allied Super PAC spent $3 million on ads attacking Cunningham and supporting left-wing state Senator Erica Smith in order to "amplify fault lines in the Democratic party."[32][33][34] On March 3, 2020, Cunningham won the Democratic primary with 57% of the vote.[35]

Cunningham stated his support of the Affordable Care Act and called for the expansion of Medicaid in North Carolina, as well as a public health insurance option.[36][37] He stated his opposition to the Green New Deal and his support for significant investment in green jobs and achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050.[32]

In July 2020, incumbent Republican Thom Tillis claimed Cunningham had been "silent" on the issue of defunding the police, saying, "I assume his silence is consent." Cunningham had published an op-ed a month earlier stating his opposition to defunding the police, instead advocating police reform, including policies that "counsel de-escalation, prohibit chokeholds, limit no-knock warrants, and specifically address the use of deadly force."[38][39]

Cunningham led Tillis in the polls throughout much of the campaign.[40]

On October 3, the New York Times wrote that the race had fallen into "utter mayhem" within a period of a few hours after Tillis tested positive for COVID-19 and Cunningham admitted to exchanging sexual text messages with a woman who was not his wife, damaging an image that leaned heavily on his character and military service. Days later, the woman stated that she had a consensual physical relationship with Cunningham in 2020.[41] The Army Reserve started an investigation into Cunningham.[42] The husband of the woman who stated that she had had an affair with Cunningham, himself an Army veteran, called on Cunningham to drop out of the Senate race.[43] Asked repeatedly whether he had had other extramarital affairs, Cunningham declined to answer.[44][45][46][47]

Following the disclosure of the texts and his response, Cunningham "assumed a position of complete radio silence, withdrawing from the campaign trail [save] for a last-minute appearance in Charlotte with the rapper Common".[48] In late October, Cunningham's polling lead eroded.[49]

Tillis defeated Cunningham, 48.7%-47%, on Election Day.[50] On November 10, 2020, a week after Election Day, Cunningham called Tillis to concede the race.[51]